Shelei Pan

I realized how much I’ve been taking face-to-face conversations at school for granted. When I’m at school I get to experience things alongside my friends and form memories with them; now I relate the memories I’ve already formed to my friends at the end of the day. It’s just not the same. I’ve had time to introspect. I’ve been using some of my time to reflect over habits that I’ve developed over the years and determine why I do certain things. This has allowed me to connect more with myself and my needs while consciously setting aside some external stressors in my life. I have been with my family much more. My family and I used to eat dinner together every night, barring the occasional business trip or circumstance. But over the past year or so, my job, my younger sister’s extracurriculars, and my parents’ academic and professional commitments have made it difficult to spend that time together. The quarantine has removed all of those factors, and now I’m able to spend the last couple months with them before I leave for college in the fall. Another highlight of the past couple of weeks has been hearing about the colleges my friends have committed to. I’ve felt so excited and proud as I’ve watched my friends get into their favorite colleges.